Trial and Error
by October Dalliance
Summary: The sequel to Confrontation.
1. 1

"Oh wow." Midoriya blinked, sitting with his tray at the long lunch table where his friend's had gathered. "Todoroki chose to sit somewhere else today?"

The fact that their usual quiet lunch companion had settled elsewhere wasn't in itself surprising. Where he'd chosen to sit however was. Across the cafeteria an odd trio sat together, talking comfortably. Kirishima and Bakugo were a familiar sight, but Todoroki's white hair and quiet demeanor was an unusual addition.

"It's amazing what forcing two people to be in each others presence can accomplish." Uraraka spectated as she ate her lunch, appearing to have already been thinking along the same lines.

Iida nodded beside her. "Amazing indeed. From battling it out in the courtyard to sharing a meal together. This is truly a testament to the great tutorage of our teachers here at U.A!"

Tokoyami sat across from him sipping at his ramen bowl. "I'd have to agree. Aizawa sensei seemed to know exactly how to solve the unrest that had swelled between those two."

"But what was it all even about?" Uraraka questioned, frowning. "I knew kaachan really had it out for Deku, but his fight with Todoroki just seemed to spring out of nowhere."

"Well he was really upset after the sport's festival." Izuku pointed out.

"But it's been months! He would've let that go by now right?" Uraraka asked incredulous.

Izuku chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his head. "Kaa-Chan's never really been the type to let things go."

Meanwhile, across the busy lunchroom...

"What's it like rooming with a nuclear bomb, Todoroki?" Eijiro addressed the dual colored boy sitting across the round table from him.

"You trynna piss me off, shithair?" Katsuki warned beside him, not looking up from his meal.

"Wouldn't take much." Kirishima laughed. "Also, I purposely styled my hair after yours today to see if you'd still call it shitty!"

Todoroki glanced from Bakugo's blonde head to the red head beside him. He'd done a good job.

"Looks nothing like mine." Bakugo dismissed, not even looking. "The back is all wrong."

"I highly doubt you know what the back of your head looks like!" Eijiro accused. "Anyway, Todoroki dude, what's it been like?"

Shoto leaned his head to the side, giving the question a bit of honest consideration. "Hm. It's been pretty relieving, I guess. He's helped me get a lot of things out of my system."

"What??? Really? This guy?" Kirishima thumbed in the blondes direction and Todoroki nodded. It had obviously not been the answer he'd expected. "Wow! That's pretty amazing! Never would've expected you to be so handy." He beamed with a bright sharp toothed grin.

"Yeah, he's really good with his hands." Shoto affirmed.

Katsuki choked on his food.

"Psssh. You don't have to be his roommate to know the guys a master with his quirk." Eijiro laughed, misunderstanding. "I guess maybe you get it close up and personal being with him all the time though."

_Real close and personal_.

Shoto shook his head. "No I meant-"

"WHAT HE MEANT WAS," Katsuki erupted. Seriously? He looked across the table at his apparent airhead boyfriend. "Why the hell are you so interested, huh? Mind your fucking business."

Kirishima frowned "Dude, it's not a big deal… unless you guys are on some secret punishment mission together or something...Or maybe some hidden task for your makeup license?"

"No it's nothing like that." Todoroki reassured as he looked back to his soba noodles with the faintest of smirks.

"Oh yeah, another question. Why was your mom here?" Kirishima asked.

Shoto looked up immediately to watch his roommate sit in amusing discomfort

"Still with the questions."

"Oh cmon it's only fair! No one else has even been able to get outside letters yet. You got an entire parent in...you're not getting expelled are you?" Something a bit more sincere than concern for a friend flashed across Kirishima's face.

Todoroki caught it.

"Of course not. My stupid old woman is always meddling in something." Katsuki answered with an arrogant frown.

The red head wrapped an arm around his friend's shoulders. "Thank goodness. That was a blow I really didn't need, especially after almost losing you to the league."

Shoto's eyes flashed to their contact.

"You didn't almost lose shit, dumbass." Katsuki barked, swatting his hand away and leaning back from his empty spicy tray. "I had it under control."

Kirishima smiled genuinely. He looked comfortable and excited to be near his friend.

Shoot inhaled quietly. He hadn't noticed before, and it was probably because he hadn't had a reason to, but there was just the smallest ounce of something beyond friendship in the sharp eyes of katsuki's redheaded best friend.

"Being hard headed is one thing. Being completely unaware of your surrounding circumstances is just irresponsible." Kirishima pressed, disagreeing with the blonde.

_Truer words couldn't have been said._

"I'm as aware as I need to be." He sniffed, leaning his chair on its back legs.

_Incorrect_. Shoto sighed, pushing his food aside. He was going to have to address this now. If there were something his prior frustrations had taught him, it was not to just let things be.

_"Do something about it._" Katsuki's voice whispered in his memory.

"His mother actually came to give us her blessing." Todoroki sat back in his chair with a sigh. He leveled his eyes with Eijiro.

Bakugo reddened.

"Her blessing? To wha-"

"We're dating now." Shoto finished.

Eijiro jolted. His shoulders hunched high and he clenched his sharp teeth. It was shock if Shoto had ever seen it. "What…" his voice was quiet, as if he were asking himself. He turned wordlessly to the boy beside him.

Katsuki's sat, with his face hidden in his hand. He looked like his usual 'about to erupt' posture. Kirishima however didn't miss how his deep red ears sat in sharp contrast against his blonde hair.

"You're...you guys are like dating-dating?" The redhead asked in a quieted disbelief. He looked from Shoto to Katsuki and back again. Shoto nodded.

"If you make a big deal about it, I'll blow you the fuck- eh? What's wrong with you?"

Kirishima looked wide eyed into his lap. He didn't speak as he looked down into his hands as if his entire world had been turned upside down.

Katsuki frowned. He'd expected the boy to explode with an annoying flurry of questions and exclamations. _You're me best bud! How did you not tell me! I didn't even know you liked someone! The class is gonna flip!_

But there was nothing, just a quiet look of shock.

He almost looked hurt.

It clicked.

"Fuck, you-"

"Missed my chance." Eijiro finished, smiling suddenly at the two boys that shared a table with him. He suddenly felt very misplaced. Standing from the table, he shook his head. It was easy to see something swelling under the surface.

"Where the hell are you going? What the fuck- I didn't- you never-" Katsuki reeled, easily losing a grasp on what was happening. Leaning after the red head, he teetered his leaning chair onto one leg and it began to flip.

"Ssshit-" katsuki cursed, losing balance. Shoto quickly began to stand, but it was kirishima's quick reflexes that caught the back of the blonde's chair and pushed him swiftly back down onto all four legs. A second hand rested on his shoulder and katsuki had grabbed at his arm reflexively.

Katsuki flinched at the impact that didn't come before looking up, wide eyed at his savior. Wasn't the first time the red head had pulled him out of a pinch. Kirishima blinked down at him wordlessly, wearing a pensive expression. Shoto eyed the hand he kept on the back of Bakugo's chair and the loose, unnoticed grip his boyfriend kept on his blazer.

He wasn't the only one.

Eijiro stood in place for a moment before moving his arm away. "I'm fine! Really." Kirishima reassured with a goofy smile that would surely fool most. "...Just feels like you kinda came outta nowhere Todoroki." He leveled his eyes with the boy across the table, but then let his eyes fall back to the blonde. "Guess I thought I had all the time in the world."

Shoto sat quietly as the third boy dismissed himself, leaving him alone with a whiplashed boyfriend.

"The fuck." Bakugo muttered quietly under his breath looking at the table as if it were the source of his confusion.

"He likes you." Shoto explained.

"Yeah I got that much!" He barked back. He groaned, leaning back into his chair kicking his feet into the table.

"You're not going after him?" Shoto asked, gauging Katsuki's reaction to this latest development. He had always been closest to Kirishima and it was more than possible that had he himself not interfered, things would be a lot different. Possessive feelings swirled in his abdomen and frowned at them. This was what he'd felt toward Midoriya… but those feelings had been unwarranted.

"I'm not interested and I'm not going after him... so fix that stupid look on your face." Katsuki sighed. "I'm just...how did I not notice?"

Shoto resumed his food, finding solace in that response for now. . "I'm sure he wasn't nearly as problematic with his feelings as I was."

Katsuki scoffed. "Problematic? What a fucking understatement." He closed his eyes, working to ignore the eyes he felt watching the two of them. Eijiro wasn't one to be visibly upset, so his classmates were bound to become curious. A frown pulled at his lips however. "More like making yourself blatantly impossible to ignore."

Shoto frowned at himself feeling his face redden. He'd done and said a lot of invasive and unreasonable things. Forced kisses and violent meltdowns. He put his face into his palm.

"Don't get embarrassed _now_, idiot. Way to start caring about presentation after-the-fact." Bakugo spoke, with a snort.

His roommate sighed looking at him levelly from across the small round table. "I suppose you're right; especially with me not really regretting any of it. It's somehow landed me where I want to be."

The blonde blushed, eye twitching. Talking to Todoroki while knowing full well how he felt toward him was going to prove to be a challenge. Since the initial liberation of his restrained feelings, Shoto had been considerably more upfront with his thoughts. It was jarring to say the least. Bakugo could face a lot of things with confidence. Romantic dealings was not one of them. Would he become unnerved talking to Kirishima as well?

He groaned, pushing both hands into his hair in frustration.

Dual colors blinked across from Katsuki. Shoto could feel complications coming in the form of a sudden urge to sit closer. Maybe it was the awareness, or maybe it was the after effects of how intimate their relationship had suddenly gotten, but there was blatant intolerance toward anyone with questionable intentions… and Katsuki clearly cared.

The feeling felt immature and possessive but it was there nonetheless.


	2. Day2

It was the second day of Shoto's suspension. He sat alone in his room, eyes closed and breathing slowly as he stretched. He was still sore and bruised despite his best efforts. RecoveryGirl made sure he realized healing wouldn't be an overnight process.

Alone time was not something Shoto was unaccustomed to. His childhood days were spent alone, separate from his siblings or with his father. It hadn't been enjoyable in the least but he'd built an aptitude for solitude. At least, he'd assumed he had. Usually he'd spend the time meditating or training, but he was much too sore to roughhouse. As far as meditation, his mind was presenting itself to be unusually active. A lot had happened to him recently and it appeared there were still new experiences around the corner. Was this the type of thing people dealt with in books? Love triangles and new relationships. It sounded...feminine, but that was probably him being stereotypical.

He was in a relationship.

Shoto sat up from his stretch, feeling his face heat. It wasn't something he thought he'd be encountering upon his enrollment into U.A. He'd expected to become stronger, more adapt. He'd expected to gain life experience and mature as an individual of course, but he hadn't expected for it to be so personal...or challenging for that matter.

Or gratifying.

Or confusing.

He leaned back on his hands, letting his head hang back as he watched the ceiling. Tonight, Katsuki would be heading back to his room. They'd be separate and back to the way things used to be. Waking at different times and sleeping in separate places. No more quietly watching him twitch in his sleep.

Their time boxed in together had seemed so much shorter than he had imagined it'd feel. With Katsuki resuming school life without him and doing extra classes in the evening, he really only interacted with the boy at lunch.

He frowned. He didn't necessarily think things would really go back to the way they were, but the only progress made seemed to happen when they were forced together. It wasn't a clear indication that separation would make things feel difficult again, and young couples didn't usually live together.

But still.

There was a knock on his door. He looked to the clock. It was too early to be Bakugo; he'd still be at the extra licensing lessons.

"Todoroki, are you awake?" Midoriya's voice called through the door.

"Yeah." He answered, watching curiously as the much shorter, curly haired boy pushed open the door.

"Hey! Sorry to bother you." He smiled apologetically, entering the room. "Just checking up on you. I'm sure you've had a lot going on in your mind lately."

"How so?" Shoto questioned. The boy was right, but what did he assume was worrying him? What was everyone assuming?

"Ah, well I just mean a lot has been happening. Your dad is the no.1 hero now. I'm sure that had something to do with why you weren't able to get your license. I meant to talk to you about it earlier really, but it slipped my mind. Then you fought with Kaachan and if I had checked on you sooner...maybe that could've been prevented."

Probably not, Shoto thought to himself. He had to hand it to the boy though. He was as observant as ever. Shoto had spent a lot of his free time focusing on Katsuki, but he couldn't help but wonder if it was his mind's way of pushing other things to the back. Other things that probably worried Midoriya.

His father had watched him fail his exam.

He hadn't exploded.

He hadn't even commented.

He probably didn't care what his son did at this point.

Shoto took a deep breath.

"I know Kaachan got really upset he didn't pass and we got in trouble over that. Then you did the same thing. I probably should've seen it coming. Now you have to room with him and miss your extra classes. It must be uncomfortable for you." The freckled boy stood nervously near the door. He was being considerate, incase Shoto didn't want to talk.

Midoriya was refreshing. Ever since their match in the ring, Todoroki had felt that way whenever the boy was in his presence. He didn't have that many personal relationships with his classmates, but somehow Izuku had found a way under his armor without even meaning to. He knew of his troubles with his parents and had put in an effort to help clear his head while they were supposed to be competing. His integrity seemed to shine through despite circumstance and it was pleasant to be around.

He was sure he seemed stand-offish to the rest of his classmates, but that didn't seem to keep the green boy at a distance. It was almost like Kirishima and Bakugo.

"I see. You're right. I've had a lot to process. I-" Shoto started, but put a cap on that thought.

...like Kirishima and Bakugo? Is that what was happening?

"Do you like me?" Shoto questioned, mid sentence.

Midoriya blinked, before jolting. "Huh!?"

"I want to know if you like me. So I can act accordingly." Shoto explained. Kirishima had been casual with katsuki despite his blatant dismissal of everyone around him. He'd had underlying feelings that had probably been a large part of why he stuck around. Especially considering that he was avoiding him now.

Izuku was friendly with everyone but Shoto had always treated his classmates with indifference. His disposition however, didn't keep the Izuku away. How ironic would it be if after all this time of fretting the connection between the freckled boy and katsuki, he himself was who had held Midoriya's attention.

Or maybe this was just him finding something else to focus on again.

"Uh well, yes! Of course I do." Deku answered confidently. He took a seat on the adjacent tatami mat to be level with his classmate. "Even though you said I'm your rival, you're still my friend. That's why I came to check on you. Ah, but sorry if that's presumptuous of me! "

"I see. My friend." He hadn't expected it, but Shoto felt the slightest relief. Midoriya was his friend. It was a nice thought to have despite never really considering the boy more than a powerful, yet pleasant rival. He didn't necessarily mind adding "friend" to that title. "No it's fine. I must have really been acting like a lost cause if you're making a house call."

Izuku shook his head. "No, you're strong Todoroki. I know you will bounce back from this. But support is always nice, right? It's nice to know that there's someone there, yknow?" He considered for a moment, the words Shoto had used. "There's nothing wrong with doing something nice for someone you like."

Todoroki nodded, being sure to remember that. After a childhood devoid of relationships outside of the jaded ones with his parents, he had a lot to learn. "Since we're friends, can I ask you something?"

Midoriya nodded, surprised and a bit baffled. He hadn't actually expected the quiet boy to talk to him.

"Why did you and Bakugo fight?"

The boy stiffened, quickly averting his eyes. "Ah. Um, that is…"

Shoto watched his discomfort closely.

"Well I don't really think Kaachan would want me talking about that in too much detail." He averted.

As true as that probably was, Shoto could tell Midoriya didn't want to talk about it as well.

"But if I were to be vague, I'd say it was because Kaachan had been really frustrated about a lot of things. He'd chosen that way to let deal with it. I'm sure you'd say you did the same."

"If I were to be vague." Shoto answered back.

/.../

Katsuki dropped a haphazardly filled box of things onto his bed, dusting his hands on his shirt. It hadn't taken long at all for his things to acquire a loose layer of dust after being stored in the dorm attic. Shoto entered the newly finished room behind him with the last neatly organized stack of boxes the boy owned. He placed them by the desk before looking around the room. It looked reset, as if no one had ever lived there. No Almight blanket or holes punched in the wall from restless nights.

The smell of the explosive boy had been replaced with the scent of new paint.

"That's the last of it."

"Great now I have to unpack all this shit."

"It might feel refreshing; starting over."

"Oh yeah? How about I blow your shit up and refresh you?"

Shoto felt his shoulders droop. It probably was a tad inappropriate for him of all people to try to find the right side of things in a situation that was entirely his fault.

Katsuki dumped his clothes onto the floor and started stuffing different dressers. Shoto unfolded sheets and blankets to start making the bed. He tucked the black fitted sheet under the mattress and laid the dark navy comforter atop. He held the thin Almight throw blanket in his hands loosely, pausing to actually look at it up close. It was well taken care of.

"Do you still want to be no.1 hero now that Almight isn't on top?" Shoto asked, thinking of his father's dissatisfaction. He watched the boy's slouched shoulders as he spoke.

"I don't want to be no.1. I'm going to be. It doesn't matter whose up there now. When I come for them, they're going down." Katsuki looked over his shoulder to see his bed had been unexpectedly made. He frowned, snatching his throw blanket from the other boy and tossing it in the corner with reddened ears.

"I see." Shoto thought on it for a moment as he went to unpack and shelve a box of textbooks. Martial Arts in a Quirk Based Society: A Three Part Set. He put the books away neatly. Bakugo really did eat and breathe combat. "It's admirable to not have your resolve shaken due to unforeseen circumstances."

"Im not some weakling." Katsuki affirmed, squatting to fill his last dresser.

"I wonder if I am." Shoto wondered aloud. As much as he detested his father, he could understand how he felt with his goal being swept from under his feet. He felt similarly. The image of becoming the number one hero on his own terms and besting Almight without using his flames had been voided. He wanted to oppose his father's dream, but now that his father's dream had diminished...what exactly was he opposing? What was he doing? "I keep setting myself back so far that I don't know where I'm supposed to be heading anymore."

"Are you an idiot? If you don't like moving backwards then just move forward." Katsuki scoffed. "You're the _second_ strongest in our class. It doesn't matter what you want in this world. All that matters is what you do. Your resolve has always been bullshit, but that doesn't mean anything has changed-"

Bakugo paused, turning to see the dual-haired boy standing in front of a fully stocked bookshelf. Shoto eyed him expectantly, waiting for him to finish his thought. The shelf sparkled cleanliness behind him and had even been color coded. "Will you quit touching my shit!" He snapped, embarrassed. Small pops escaped from his fists. He'd always been exclusive with his things, to the point of not letting others in his room. It was jarring having someone else handle them so...intimately.

"It'll be faster if I help. There's nothing wrong with doing something for someone you like." Todoroki quoted Midoriya.

"I don't need your fucking help!" Katsuki's skin flared.

Shoto let his head fall to the side with a sigh. "I know you don't need help." He took a seat on the bed. "But my own progress has been halted. At least this feels like I'm doing something."

"Go do something for your own damn self."

"I can't find my footing. I'm unsure about what I should even be doing at this point. At least this-" he continued, ignoring the blond's protest and motioning to the room. "is something I know I want."

"To piss me off?" Bakugo spat, eyeing the defeated looking boy who sat uninvited on his bed.

"To be around you." He corrected, rubbing at his neck. He locked his gaze with the irritated boy who suddenly looked caught off guard. A deep red traveled from the blonde's ears down past his collar bone.

Shoto followed it with his eyes.

Katsuki turned away abruptly to resume unpacking. "Stupid...from holding everything in to saying whatever the fuck you want now."

"You told me to confront my feelings as soon as I feel-"

"I KNOW WHAT I SAID!"


End file.
